What Are You Working On ?

In an effort to weed down my UFO pile I have pulled this little mini quilt to work on today. This little cutie has been sitting around for about 2 years waiting on me to bind it. I love this quilt because of the fall fabric's that it has in it. The picture below show's the fabric that I chose for the bunding. In person it is a bit darker then the photo shows. The gray's and oranges go so well with the blocks in the quilt, I picked this fabric ( fat quater) up for .75 at Marden's a few months ago.

If I get really lucky I will be able to get this done today and still have time to work on my Henrietta Whisker's blocks as there is not much to be done on it. I have not decided what I will be working on for tomorrow. I think that I would like to get some work done on my Jean Quilt as I think that it has been neglected for to long, however I just stumbled upon the cutest little BOM that I reeeeaaallly wanna start. It is called Birdie Stitches and can be found here , I found it through the flickr group located here. I really need to be good though and get some of these UFO's out of the way and free up some space so that it is easier for me to work in my little sewing space.

A UFO Bites The Dust

Well after months of this little doll quilt sitting around waiting on me to put on it's binding it is finally out of the UFO pile and up on my kitchen wall. Please excuse the nasty colour of the wall, the people who had this trailer before us had no sense of colour. We decided that the trailer is going once we have everything paid off so only 4 more years of funky coloured walls. We don't know yet if we are going with a double wide or building a house.

Quilting MoJo and Possible Quilt Along

So in an attempt to bring back my quilting mojo I put together this little pretty. Yup still need to put on the binding but that is cut and all ready to be sewed on. I had fun making it and it was super simple - just what I needed :)

I have been thinking all week about putting up another mini quilt tutorial but have yet to decide on what pattern I would like to do. Today I pulled out my draft paper and colour crayons and played around a bit, I have 3 that are possible candidates. I really like making doll quilts and mini quilts I hope my mojo is back to stay this time :)

Sorry,Sorry!!!

Sorry about the delay in the setting instructions. my computer caught a nasty virus and it has taken awhile to get it fixed.First set you blocks and triangles out like this.


Sew into rows and I can't stress it enough, pins are your best friend.






Trim your dog ears and sew the first border on.


The second border I cut at 3 inches I figured this would give enough room for some applique or some fancy quilting.Please if you make one of these quilts I would love to see it.

Cutting and Sewing

From each of your dark fabric's you will need to cut:
(1) strip 1x8
(2)squares 1 7/8


From your light fabric you will need to cut :
(9) strips 1x8
(18) squares 1 7/8
(4) squares 3 1/2
(2) squares5 1/2 ** cut these in half twice to have 8 quarter square triangles
(9) squares 1 1/2
(2) squares 3 inches ** cut these once on the diagonal


Now take one dark strip and 1 light strip and sew them together. When pressing these strips be very careful as it is easy to make them go wonky :)


Now subcut your strip sets into 4 slices 1 1/2 x 1 1/2


Now take your 1 7/8 light squares and draw a line on the diagonal and 2 lines on either side a 1/4, the middle line will be your cutting line and the other two your sewing lines.


It should look like this after being sewed.


Cut apart


Press open again being very, very careful as these as super easy to distort.


Lay out your pieces to look like this and sew together


Trim your block down to 3 1/2 inches. Congrats you have now made a Monkey Wrench block and have put 17 pieces of fabric into a 3 inch square :) I will give you a bit of time to sew all 9 blocks together and then I will be back with setting and border directions.

Are You Ready ??

So are you ready for the next mini quilt along?? I have a idea in my head. Here is what you will need.
* 3/4 yard of light background fabric or that much in light scraps
* (9) dark scraps at least 7x8 inches
* 1/4 yard for your inner border
* about 3/8 yard for your binding
Give me a couple of days and the directions will be posted :)

Step 3

For this step you need to cut 1 1/2 strip of you stashing fabric and also 1 1/2 inch squares.


Now you can leave it as is or you can add an outside border. I am just leaving it as is . Hope you have enjoyed this quilt along and if you do decide to make one please send me a link as I would love to see it :)

Issues

Sorry everyone who might be following my quilt along. It seems my camera is not in the mood to talk to my computer at the moment. I am working on getting this fixed and as soon as I do the last step will be posted. Thanks for understanding

Step 3

Sorry about the wait for the last step, blogger wouldn't let me post :( Anyways take 2 of your flying geese units and sew to either end of your 4 patch.


To your other flying geese units sew your 1 1/2 inch background squares. Sew these to either side of your unit.


Now your block is all put together. Just trim to 4 1/2 inches :) Nice simple block. I will give ya'll time to put together 12 of these. I should be back tonight or tomorrow morning with step 4. You will need about 1/2 yard of fabric for step 4. Remember to see all of the post in this quilt along to click on the tag Mini Quilt along.

Step 1 :)

For each block you need to cut
(4) 1 1/2 inch squares of background fabric , (4) 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch rectangles of background fabric, (1) strip 1 1/2 x at least 4 1/2 inches of colour 1, (1) strip 1 1/2 x at least 4 1/2 inches of colour 2, (8) 1 1/2 inch squares of colour 3.
You will need to cut enough for 9 blocks. I am making mine all scrappy but feel free to make yours more controlled if you like.

This is what your blocks will look like. Sewing instructions to come in a min. Blogger is being a bit of a pain at the moment.

Step 2

Take your 1 1/2 x 4 1/2 strip and sew together


Cut into (2) 1 1/2 inch slices

Sew into a 4 patch


Now grab your 1 1/2 inch colour 3 squares and your 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch background rectangles. You can either draw or eyeball a sewing line.


Press open and then add the other side


Now you have 4 flying geese units. As you can see from the photo I ran out of the deep red , so I just cut another red. I think it will add to the charm of the quilt. After all our ancestor made do :)

Mini Quilt Along

So while hunting for my quilting hoop this morning I came across my suitcase full of repo fabric. I decided that I really need to put a dent in it , well a little dent. I have decided to host a quilt along.
Keep a eye on the blog I will be posting step one in a little bit !

Fabric

Need to run to the fabric store today and pick up some fabric for my hex quilt. I found this image online yesterday, forget where I found it. I think I'm going to give this one a go first. I was playing with a few of my hex blocks and I need to rechart the other hex quilt. I will be posting again once I make a bit of headway on the hex doll quilt.

A Few Hex's

Boy ain't blogger being a brat. It took forever to upload these 3 photo's. This 1st photo the hex's are really a nice olive green. Each hex measures in at 1/2 inch and each diamond is 3 1/2 inches.
In the photo above is one of my favorite reproduction fabrics. I only had a wee bit left and though I was going to run out before I could finish my last hexagon !
Well I'm about pooped so I think I'm going to call it a day and see what is good on T.V. tonight.